Foster Parents

This summer has been a BUSY summer for us with lots of company and traveling. We had one house guest in particular, though, who stayed longer than all the rest.

We first spotted Ellie when she ran out from underneath Mike's parents car as they were leaving after July 4th. We saw her again a couple of nights later and Mike caught her. She was about 6 weeks old and clearly had no mama taking care of her. We brought her inside and locked her in the guest bath while we tried to decide what to do with her.

I called my friend, Rebecca, and she agreed to be Ellie's new mama. Well, one thing led to another and Rebecca ended up traveling, moving and just getting busy with life. We agreed to be Ellie's foster parents until her new home was ready.

Ellie was very cute but we have a little boy who became quite attached. Ellie worked out great for Mike and I, too. Any time we needed Clay to hurry to the front door and stop dawdling we'd tell him, "Let's go see Ellie." We could distract him from doing things he shouldn't by going on a hunt for Ellie. Clay asked for Ellie first thing in the morning and all day long.

Ellie also made friends with our other animals. She was the epitome of a kitten with her frisky behavior and playful nature. We really enjoyed Ellie but like all good things, her visit had to come to an end. We agreed that Ellie would go home after Rebecca and I returned from a trip to Houston.

When I talked to Clay about it, here's how it went:
B: Clay, who's kitty is Ellie?
C: Cway's kitty.
B: No, Aunt Rebecca is Ellie's mama.
C: No, Cway's kitty.
B: Ellie is going to go to her home with Aunt Rebecca.
C: No!
B: We are going to tell Ellie bye-bye.
C: No, Cway's kitty.

I started to worry that we might have a mega meltdown when Ellie had to leave since she had been with us a month. Fortunately, Ellie's leaving coincided with Clay's cousins' visit so it wasn't too noticeable.

She's been gone a couple of days now and I was pretty glad that he hadn't even mentioned her once. Clay's cousins left this morning, though, and a couple of hours later I heard him walking through the house saying, "Ew-wie. Ew-wie." Uh-oh.